Mike Karlesky

I hold degrees in both electrical engineering and computer science from Grand Valley State University. At GVSU I also completed the Honors Program and had the privilege of being simultaneously selected as the top graduate in both of my major programs by the Engineering and Computer Science faculty.

I most enjoy technical work involving embedded systems and a certain engineering flavor. I’ve been the architect and developer on projects including a DSP-based weather processing system, an automated calibration and processing system for temperature sensors, and a QNX-based proof-of-concept target finding platform for the military. I’m proficient with C/C++, Ruby, Java, C#, and embedded graphics libraries as well as several variants of embedded platforms and communication protocols.

Currently I’m one atom of a small molecule that is AO’s new Embedded Software group. I’m working with Greg Williams and Scott Miller to grow what has already been a successful segment of AO’s business into its own group, with our own unique embedded culture and distributed team.

Select Customer Projects

• X-Rite: MA9x Spectrophotometer
• DaimlerChrysler: Handheld Diagnostic Tools
• Gentex: Embedded Development & Test-Driven Development Training
• Universal Remote Control: Complete Control Suite desktop software

Open Source Contributions

• Unity: A lightweight, C-based unit test framework well-suited for embedded systems.
• CMock: A mock object framework for interaction-based testing in C.
• CException: A handy exception framework for C.
• Ceedling: A test build environment tool that ties the preceding three together.

Publications

Agile Project Management. Or, Burning Your Gantt Charts.
Embedded Systems Conference
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
October 2008

Mocking the Embedded World:
Test-Driven Development, Continuous Integration, and Design Patterns
Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley
San Jose, California, USA
April 2007

Effective TDD for Embedded Software
IEEE 2006 Electro/Information Technology Conference
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
May 2006

Publications

Way Better Error Handling in C Using CException
Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
April 2011

Select bits of Writing

• “Software business: Farming vs. Mining”
• “Super Developers Are Also Mild-Mannered Reporters”
• “Testing and Legacy Code, a Primer”
• “Surviving and Thriving as an Inshoring Software Company”
• “Mysteries and Puzzles”
• “A Moral Obligation to Marketing“

Interests

• Local History: I compiled and maintain the history of Our Historic Neighborhood & Building.
• Play + Technology @ Note the Smile: My own blog site.
• Mad Scientists + C Toolsmithing @ Throw the Switch